Overnight City Hall Sit-In Broken Up by Police

Last night, activists and protestors took over Baltimore’s city hall in an act of civil disobedience intended to protest police tactics and the instatement of the city’s interim police commissioner.

The sit-in began during a Wednesday night meeting during which a city council subcommittee voted to make interim police commissioner Kevin Davis‘s appointment permanent. The activists also criticized the Baltimore Police Department’s use of military-style equipment, such as armored vehicles and riot gear, and called for police officers to wear name tags. “[We] really wanted to challenge the coronation process for commissioner Davis and ask some critical questions about how police have handled protests since he’s been in charge, and other questions about fairness and equity around policing,” activist Lawrence Brown told the AP.

Several protestors, many of whom were students, left by early Thursday morning; the dozen who remained were arrested by police.